Cuomo: Ban public-aid cards at casinos, liquor stores

Jan. 25, 2014

In this July 1, 2013 file photo, chips are on a blackjack table in the Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin, located approximately 70 miles south of Pittsburgh, in Farmington, Pa. / AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File

Written by

Ashley Hupfl

Journal Albany bureau

ALBANY — Want to hit the blackjack table, a strip club or the local liquor store? You can, but taxpayers won’t be footing the bill under a proposal by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The proposal would ban Electronic Benefits Transfer cards, or EBT, from being used at the prohibited venues, with a punishment system both for welfare recipients and the establishments that allow them to be used. It would put the state in compliance with the federal Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, which extended certain federally funded benefits but required the state to clamp down on fraud.

“These reforms will help ensure that public assistance is used as intended: to ensure the least fortunate among us are able to access food, shelter and heat while limiting potential abuse and conforming with upcoming federal standards,” Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said. The welfare program delivers cash and food-stamp benefits provided to recipients in debit-card-like form. The money, in some cases, can be accessed at ATMs.

Cuomo’s proposal calls for suspending benefits to recipients who use the card at unauthorized locations, ranging from one month for a first offense to six months for the fourth offense and each one after that. For a recipient with a family, only the guilty party would lose benefits; the other family members still would receive benefits.

Liquor stores, gambling venues and strip clubs would face a small fine for a first violation. From there, the punishment would vary, with casinos and liquor stores potentially losing their licenses after a second offense and strip club owners facing a misdemeanor charge after a third offense.

The state faces a Feb. 22 deadline to report “policies and practices” to the federal government that prevent public benefits from being used at banned venues. The state budget isn’t due until March 31, but Cuomo’s office said it thinks the steps it is taking would comply with the deadline. If the state doesn’t comply, the federal government could dock its benefits payments to New York by 5 percent, or $120 million annually.

Previously, Senate Deputy Republican Leader Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton, had introduced a bill to restrict where the cards may be used, but the bill never passed the Assembly. Libous said he was “pleased the governor included most of my bill” in his budget proposal. He had circulated a petition trying to increase support for his bill.

Ron Deutsch, executive director of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, said the regulations are unfair and demonize low-income residents.

“I think it is a distraction from the real problem, which is New York is facing record hunger right now,” Deutsch said. “I say what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. If you want to prohibit people from using public money at establishments like this, then I think we should be prohibiting lawmakers from using their public money at the same establishments.”